Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Well some people might remember I started a little experiment in the fall compressing and bagging up small amounts of grass and clover into plastic bags to produce small (about 2 gallons compressed) bagged haylage.

I bagged the grass up on September 24th. I opened 1 bag on November 22nd to see it if way okay, it looked good and chickens ate it.

Today I opened a 2nd bag to see if it was still good and not moldy, so far so good. The chickens don't go crazy for it but it does give them something different to pick at in the cold, snowy weather. And best of all free!!

Thinking of planting some clover or other crop to harvest next fall to do more next year, with something better than basically grass.

JimW

Looking good! Was a bit tempted to get close to the screen and smell it

What a great idea! I picked flowers from the clovers last year for tea. May be my chickens and ducks might like some.

I try and harvest the dried grass clippings from the lawn and give that to them and use it in the nest boxes. I was surprised to see they liked to eat it. Didn't get much this year though.

I'm not fond of silages, don't like the pervasive smell, and you really have to be careful it's always fresh as it can spoil easily once exposed to air and in other livestock cause serious illness. If it isn't harvested well and includes a lot of dirt it can harbour Listeria, again a risk to livestock but not sure about birds.

Look forward to hearing more about your use of it for your birds though.

Brebis thanks for the tips.

I believe chickens can get Listeria, just not as common, as in 4 legged livestock.

I am not too worried about spoiling as I will only be feeding this in the winter, so it they do not eat it quick it will freeze. In the summer the birds get fresh cut clover and grass.

Plus the amount I am feeding is very small, I fed about 2 gallons compressed to about 50 birds, so very small quantity, cleaned up or frozen quickly. A bit of a smell when you open the bag, but then gone away quickly.

I have done it in the past when there was so much clover in the grass I had to figure out some way to use it.
What I really like about the " haylage" was that it stretched the free range season somewhat and if nothing else adds entertainment value for the flock. I buy apples and greenery from the discounted shelf in grocery store during winter months , but the price of fruit and veggies have gone up so much that something like the haylage is very nice addition to the poultry feed budget.
You have inspired me to pay more attention to the grass next year and put together few bags for next winter again.

Yes I buy the discounted fruits and veggies at the grocery store as well for the winter. In late fall I was feeding wild apples and quince and after halloween I picked up 10 pumpkins from a farm down the road to feed.

Next year I will bag up more grass and clover, as well as have plans to grow pumpkins and winter squash to stockpile for winter chicken treats.

JimW wrote:Yes I buy the discounted fruits and veggies at the grocery store as well for the winter. In late fall I was feeding wild apples and quince and after halloween I picked up 10 pumpkins from a farm down the road to feed.

Next year I will bag up more grass and clover, as well as have plans to grow pumpkins and winter squash to stockpile for winter chicken treats.

Quince. Was that the fruit in question last season?

SandyM wrote:

JimW wrote:Yes I buy the discounted fruits and veggies at the grocery store as well for the winter. In late fall I was feeding wild apples and quince and after halloween I picked up 10 pumpkins from a farm down the road to feed.

Next year I will bag up more grass and clover, as well as have plans to grow pumpkins and winter squash to stockpile for winter chicken treats.

Quince. Was that the fruit in question last season?

Yes that was the fruit in question last fall. I am still not 100% sure what it is but I am going with that for now.

Nice to see some green this time of year, LOL, I think I might try this myself this year. How did you compress the grass?